Mexico

Within two months of arriving in New Spain, Catalina Suárez Marcaida, first wife of the conquistador Hernán Cortés, was dead. Did she meet with foul play?

With the US riven by civil war, Napoleon III seized the opportunity to install an emperor in Mexico. The new regime soon fell apart in a catastrophic manner.

Whether it was a conquest or an invasion, the events that took place in the Aztec capital 500 years ago are in desperate need of reappraisal.

If we are to better understand the actions of men such as Hernán Cortés, we must place them in the context of a medieval world view that predated the nation state.

Filmmakers, revolutionaries, Iranian shahs – Mexico has a long history of providing political asylum.

While finding its origins in royal Aztec feasts, the everyday Tex-Mex enchilada is more a product of colonialism and prejudice than authentic heritage.

The Conquest of Mexico was justified by the Spanish as an evil necessary to save a people who practised human sacrifice and worshipped false gods. 

Kate Wiles provides context for the first European image of the Aztec capital, razed by the Spanish in 1521.

Hidden beneath a hill in Cholula, Mexico lies the biggest pyramid ever built.